Friday, August 9, 2013

IT FEELS LIKE 1984

The owners of a private e-mail server - Lavabit have shut down their service rather than submit to government intrusion.

Lavabit was the preferred email service provider of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Owner Ladar Levison posted this cyrptic message on the site:

My Fellow Users,

I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit
in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years
of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul
searching, I have decided to suspend operations. I wish that I could
legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I
feel you deserve to know what’s going on—the first amendment is supposed
to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this.
Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things
currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks,
even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.

What’s going to happen now? We’ve already started preparing the
paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the Fourth
Circuit Court of Appeals. A favorable decision would allow me resurrect
Lavabit as an American company.

This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without
congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_
recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with
physical ties to the United States.

Sincerely,Ladar LevisonOwner and Operator, Lavabit LLCDefending the constitution is expensive! Help us by donating to the Lavabit Legal Defense Fund here.